While the English-language media has largely given Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger a pass for his latest musings on ethnicity, Daniel Hernandez blogs that today's La Opinión went with a headline that screamed Governor attacks Mexicans and Spanish-language radio has been all riled up. Hernandez:

"Attacks" seems a bit strong, as these were off-the-record musings, but the subtext of outrage seems entirely appropriate....

Imagine, for the sake of discussion, how the English-language press would respond if the governor's disparaging comments on Mexicans would have been directed in some form at Jews or African Americans. I can't find any voices in English countering the patently prejudicial idea that Mexican immigrants resist assimilating, much less any discussion on what these antiquated ideas of "assimilation" even mean anymore. The unequal distribution of L.A. media anger on this story is especially stinging in Latino Los Angeles....

And people wonder why Mexicans and other Latinos feel under attack in this country and lash back in emotional ways.

What the governor said, in tapes obtained by the Times, can be read here and here and here.

More: Politics
© 2003-2009   •  About LA Observed  •  Email the editor
LA Biz Observed
4:03 PM Fri | CBS and ABC have far bigger fish to fry - namely whether their stations can get back the auto and retail advertising that fell off a cliff in 2009.
Native Intelligence
Jenny Price | Recycling!
Veronique de Turenne | And there's still time to take part!
Phil Wallace | Searching for answers after a third loss this year.
Deanne Stillman | Jihad and cash offers meet American soldiers during the Gulf War, and beyond.
Iris Schneider | After a tough year financially, the Museum of Contemporary Art put on a gala party to celebrate with 1,000 of its closest friends.
Jenny Burman
Thinking more about buying less.
Here in Malibu
Seriously -- turn out the lights.
Sponsors
Jewish Journal logo
The California Wellness Foundation
Playa Vista ad
Blogads

Blogads Los Angeles network

Get RSS Feeds
of LA Observed
LA Observed publishes several Real Simple Syndication feeds for easy scanning of headlines. If you wish to subscribe to a feed, most popular RSS readers will do it for you. You can also enter the web address from the XML button below or click on a specific feed. For more help with RSS, try here or here.




Add to Google